Max Verstappen held ‘unprecedented’ meeting with Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies on 12-hour flight

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Max Verstappen convened an ‘unprecedented’ meeting with Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies and engineer Gianpiero Lambiase after the Chinese Grand Prix, it has emerged.

Verstappen is considering retirement at the end of the 2026 season because he has lost his enjoyment in the new generation of F1 cars. While his issues transcend Red Bull’s (lack of) competitiveness, it is still a significant concern.

Heading into the extended break before the Miami GP, Verstappen is ninth in the championship with just 12 points. It’s his lowest tally at this stage of a season since 2015, when he was a rookie for midfield team Toro Rosso.

Verstappen is questioning if his F1 career is “worth it” as former drivers tell him to take a break

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Max Verstappen’s meeting with Laurent Mekies and Gianpiero Lambiase emerges

At the moment, Red Bull are not a factor in the fight at the front. Behind Haas and level with Alpine in the constructors’ standings, they are currently an upper midfield team.

Still, Verstappen would be better off in the championship had he not retired from the Chinese GP while running sixth. According to ESPN, he invited Mekies and Lambiase to fly home with him on his private jet from Shanghai to Nice, a trip that would have taken at least 12 hours.

This was apparently an ‘unprecedented’ step, but one that gave him the opportunity to hold ‘frank talks’ with ‘key members’ of the team over Red Bull’s poor start.

What do Red Bull need to do to convince Max Verstappen to stay in F1?

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There was no immediate improvement in Japan as he suffered a Q2 exit before scrapping his way to eighth place, having lost a battle with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. But Red Bull are one of the teams who could benefit most from the enforced break in the season.

There is optimism at Milton Keynes that Verstappen will be more inclined to stay in F1 if they improve his car, even if he’s adamant that he would be making the same complaints at the front of the field.

Red Bull’s ‘one second’ gap to Mercedes isn’t what it seems

Both Mekies and predecessor Christian Horner played down expectations for Red Bull in 2026 given that they were introducing their very first engine and going up against long-established manufacturers.

But Red Bull are ‘convinced’ their engine is on par with Mercedes, F1’s dominant team. That reflects what Toto Wolff and George Russell were saying during pre-season testing.

Surprisingly, this indicates that Red Bull’s real problem is their car design. Verstappen has repeatedly complained about drivability over the radio, even calling it worse than ever in China.

Verstappen believes Red Bull are a second behind Mercedes, but they need to focus on the corners rather than the straights as they try to close that gap.